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| Author: Simon Hopkinson
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $10.10
You Save: $14.85 (60%)
New (37) Used (21) from $9.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 53435
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1401308627
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5
EAN: 9781401308629
ASIN: 1401308627
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Clean, crisp & tight, never read. NO remainder mark! & DJ is very good. May have remainder mark unless previously noted. Dlvy confirmation within US included. Shipping Fast, except Hawaii and Alaska. Our Provident name: making timely fulfillment & thorough preparation to secure a future together.
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| Customer Reviews:
A lovely little book January 10, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've read the other feedback, and have to politely dissent. I found this to be a lovely little cookbook, and the author's descriptions made me want to try the recipes in here even though I may not have have had interest previously.
The recipe for olive oil mashed potatoes and the onion tart were both really good. I'm looking forward to trying the others.
 Truly the most useful cook book... January 5, 2008
Roast Chicken is useful not so much that it gives you many good, precise recipes, (I've changed every recipe I've made so far save for the Hollandaise sauce) but that it gives you great ideas to put a good meal together for yourself. The book shows Mr. Hopkinson's life of joyful cooking and eating (and drinking). I think it gives a look into where food came from, how it may have gotten too complicated, and how to swing it back the other way. Simple food with few ingredients, made simply and very tasty. And no, I do not plan on making the deep-fried calves' brains with sauce gribiche any time soon. However, the tip on how shellfish should be cooked, not in any recipe, but in the text is priceless. This book has struck a chord with me and many other cooks. J.P. Gardener obviously does not like to cook, or be adventurous in the kitchen. (YOU MUST HAVE TUNA IN THE SALAD NICOISE!)You know how pompus that sounds.
It is beyond cookbook. Thank you Mr. Hopkinson.
 most useful cookbook?? December 26, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I bought this book largely because of the extensive hype it received in the New York Times. Now it's arrived, I'm disappointed. The book is organized around specific ingredients; once I take out those I can't face the thought of eating (brains, rabbit, liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, tripe) and those I'll never find (squab, smoked haddock, hake, cepes, grouse), there's not much of the book left. There are not very many recipes and quite a few of them cover familiar ground--olive oil mashed potatoes, lemon surprise pudding, roast leg of lamb, etc. I'm sure I'll find a few good ideas in here, but calling this "the most useful cookbook of all time" is a real stretch.
Fun to read, helpful for cooking December 13, 2007
I've been cooking from this somewhat controversial book for four years, the gift of a friend in London, where the book is something of an icon. The author explains its success: "Without blowing my trumpet, I always knew it was a good book because it had nice things in it which you couldn't help but want to eat. And as long as the recipes work, I knew it would be a useful book to have." Boy, is he right!
There aren't that many recipes (148 in all not counting variations), and they seem a bit limited: they are organized by favorite foods -- for example several recipes for eggplant in one chapter.
The text is verbose, sometimes poorly edited, always charming and interesting, but the recipes are direct and to the point.
Robert C. Ross 2007 2008
 The Most Useless Cookbook Of All Time December 3, 2007
73 out of 102 found this review helpful
I can't begin to tell you how dreadful this cookbook is. How it received a rave review from chef Jeremiah Tower I don't know. Let's just take one recipe: Cepes (Porcini mushrooms. Chef (?) Hopkinson tells us to fry them in olive oil until crusty and golden brown and finish with chopped garlic and a squeeze of lemon. If you live in the United States and can find good porcini mushrooms (which it doubtful) please don't destroy them by frying them crusty brown! Ugh! Slice them (he doesn't mention this)and saute in extra virgin olive oil and garlic for a few minutes. Add salt. Lemon destroys and changes the taste of these expensive mushrooms (unless they are served raw - in which case they must be small and very firm so they can be sliced thinly),and adding raw garlic at the end is a really bad idea.
Chef Hopkinson also mentions that if the stems feel hollow it is an indication of worms! Nonsense. I have lived in France and in Italy for many years - where I taught Italian and French cooking. I always felt the stems to see if they were firm - because they grow hollow after being kept a day or two too long. I never found a worm in a cepe (firm or hollow)in 25 years.
I'll not bore you with more than one more example of his silliness: For the anchovy and onion tart he says to "Sweat the onions until you get a thick mush" Unheard of. Onions are cooked (sweated) in olive oil until they are soft and slightly colored...unless you like mush!
I hope Mr. Tower reads this and responds.
Most of the recipies are ridiculous. Salade Nicoise without the tuna? If you buy cheap lousy tuna (instead of a good Italian brand)that's how it will taste - but if you don't like tuna make something else. We don't need to pay $25.00 for a book that tells us to leave out the tuna, do we?
Lastly, I hope you're not cholesterol conscious. This "chef" loves his cream and butter to excess - even when they are unecessary.
I returned the book to the shop.
The man is a legend in his own mind.
Save your money - and your stomach.
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